Photography - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1
Correspondence schools in photography will deprive you of much of the added input when taking classes with other students, not just in the lab, but during critique when you get to see how they interpreted the assignment and hear their criticism of your work and others. The top schools are RIT, Brooks and Art Center ... with them you will need a 4x5 view camera for the first year. Slow, meticulous, setup, composition and exposure with the camera and perfect development and printing are essential to maximizing the time behind the camera and minimizing the time in the darkroom or in front of the computer. The New York Institute of Photography has been around a long time, so there should be a lot of alum you can contact for some good insight into the school and how well it achieves it job of teaching the student how to use any camera, anywhere, under any conditions and shoot marketable images on demand.
2
legit yes, good i dont think so, i have seen the work of some that did the course and well......... imagine trying to learn 2 + 2 by corrospondence........or having a hands on teacher teaching you it - and its more complicated than that it would certainly be be better than nothing, a one night a week course will benefit you far more i think
3
NYIP is legit. It is an at home course. You will succeed at NYIP as far as you will let yourself. You will get the same education as if you enter a college for photography. The education you will receive is all based upon if you are willing to push yourself to learn. This goes to say with any at home schooling or in the classroom schooling. If you do not take the schooling seriously, then your photos will not be any good....no matter if it was at home or in classroom.
4
They have been in business since 1910 so apparently they must be legit. Although its true that having the luxury of devoting 2 to 4 years at photography school would be preferable, oft times the reality of work and family take precedence. You will get as much out of any course of study as you put into it, whether in a formal classroom or via correspondence.
5
Yes, really good
6
When I decided to become a photographer full time, I already knew how to do a certain type of photography fairly well, photojournalism. However, there were types of photography that I didn't have any background in and it was obvious that I needed to get a decent grounding in them. I selected NYIP and was very pleased with them. You have to understand the limitations of the format, but the information is solid, the instruction is very well structured and you will get a solid grounding in the basics across the board. The instructors are very good and the feedback you get is as solid as the information you're taught. If you are going to take the correspondence route, NYIP is probably the best there is. You can push your photography as hard as you want with NYIP. If you do the assigned work to just the minimum requirements, you will get the minimum value. Still good, but not all you can get. Push yourself creatively and they will be right there with you. I can say that from my personal experience and I know others from NYIP (all successfully earning a living as photographers) that they had the same experience. It won't be like taking classes at a school and it can't be. However, some of the legitimate shortcomings that have been pointed out are easily compensated for if there is an active photography club in your area. You can find the cross-fertilization of ideas, supportive creative energy, etc. there. You will also need to supplement the material with more advanced stuff. You would do that anyway, anywere. Everything will depend on you, what you bring to the table. NYIP will keep their part of the bargain. I have a very different opinion of NYIP than my esteemed colleague FF69, but, and I am sure he would agree with this, we have different perspectives about photography. Vance
